Rich and Rare 003

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A Diary of the Weather and Winds for 19 years. Comencing with An: Dom. 1716 and concluding with 1734. exactly Observed and taken at the City of Dublin. Manuscript, 1734, Dublin

This meticulous record of the weather in Dublin and to some extent in Europe during a nineteen-year period is the work of an Isaac Butler, a resident of the Parish of St Nicholas Without in Dublin. Butler was Parish Constable, a position of some responsibility at the time. Apart from the meteorological record of floods, storms and snow, the diarist also includes information on shipwrecks, harvests, fires and attacks by “Popish incendiaries” near Blessington, and “Torry” riots in Lurgan. The writer’s approach to his task is a mix of objective scientific observation and superstition. He records the planetary positions and has an unquestioning belief in the effect of these positions on the weather and on current events. Thus the same writer, who gives us a scrupulously recorded description of what would appear to be a mosquito in Carlow, can also note that the current high winds have been caused by a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. The full Diary can be accessed at: http://www.dublincitypubliclibraries.com/story/diary-weather-and-winds

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